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The ‘acid test’ for an interpretation of Kant is its solution to an old problem. Things in themselves exist, and are the causes of phenomenal appearances, but we have no knowledge of things in themselves. Doesn’t that make his tale untellable? Allison's deflationary solution makes a distinction between how we consider things, whether ‘in themselves’, i.e. in abstraction from the conditions of our sensibility, or not. A better solution is admittedly metaphysical, but none the worse for it: there exist things in themselves, i.e. things that have intrinsic properties; those things have...

The ‘acid test’ for an interpretation of Kant is its solution to an old problem. Things in themselves exist, and are the causes of phenomenal appearances, but we have no knowledge of things in themselves. Doesn’t that make his tale untellable? Allison's deflationary solution makes a distinction between how we consider things, whether ‘in themselves’, i.e. in abstraction from the conditions of our sensibility, or not. A better solution is admittedly metaphysical, but none the worse for it: there exist things in themselves, i.e. things that have intrinsic properties; those things have relational powers that constitute phenomena; but we don’t know what the intrinsic properties are. This tale is tellable.